§ Mr. McDonnellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will provide a breakdown of the accidents which have occurred to workers engaged in the construction of the Jubilee Line extension, by severity of the accident, in(a) 1996, (b) 1997, (c) 1998 and (d) 1999 to date. [75170]
§ Mr. MealeThe accident figures requested are set out in the table. These figures have been taken from HSEs live database and are, therefore, highly provisional and may be subject to change.
Jubilee Line Extension Project (JLEP)Accidents to JLEP workers engaged in the construction of the Jubilee Line, reported to HE under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 from 1 April 1996 to 3 March 1999 Year Fatal Major Over 3 days 1996–97 0 48 116 1997–98 0 24 46 1998 to 3 March 1999 0 5 10 Total 0 77 172
§ Mr. McDonnellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many accidents have occurred in the construction of the Jubilee Line extension. [75173]
§ Mr. MealeI refer my hon. Friend to my answer above. HSE's live database currently does not go back before 1996–97. Any accident figures before this date could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
§ 1997 Mr. McDonnellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the occasions when work has ceased on the construction of the Jubilee Line extension as a result of health and safety concerns in(a) 1996, (b)(c) 1998 and (d) 1999 to date. [75161]
§ Mr. MealeThe information is not available in the form requested.
158WSince 1996, the HSE has not served any Prohibition Notice requiring work to be stopped on the Jubilee Line Extension Project. However during visits across the project, numerous unsafe activities or situations have been dealt with by the work being stopped at the request of the HSE Inspector. In these cases work did not re-start until the relevant contractors took appropriate action. These would not necessarily be recorded on HSE's information recording system and therefore precise numbers cannot be given.
§ Mr. McDonnellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will place in the Library the reports of the Health and Safety Executive on the health and safety of the working practices pursued in the construction of the Jubilee Line extension. [75162]
§ Mr. MealeReports, compliant with current Government guidelines on disclosure of information, will be placed in the Library shortly.
§ Mr. McDonnellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the arrangements established to ensure the health and safety of the workers engaged in the construction of the Jubilee Line extension. [75169]
§ Mr. MealeThe main legal responsibility for ensuring the health and safety of the workers lies with the contractors involved in the construction of the Jubilee Line Extension. JLE, the client, also has duties to protect workers working on the project. HSE held meetings with the client prior to the project starting and subsequently frequent inspections across the Jubilee Line have been carried out by HSE inspectors and will continue until the project is completed.